Viva La Vida

Singer Chris Martin chose it after seeing the phrase, which means “long live life,” on a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who endured polio, a broken spine, and chronic pain for decades. “She went through a lot of sh-t, of course, and then she started a big painting in her house that said ‘Viva la Vida,’” says Martin. “I just loved the boldness of it.”

Of course, Frida Kahlo will not be the first name that jumps to most peoples’ minds when they hear the phrase. “Everyone thinks it comes from Ricky Martin, which is fine. I have absolute respect,” says the singer, who gave Coldplay its original name, Pectoralz, and named his children Apple and Moses. “I’ve been through this before, naming something or someone and everyone saying that ‘That’s a terrible name’. But then saying, ‘Well, f-ck you, that’s what it’s called, and I’ll be proved to be right eventually’. So when Viva la Vida came along, I was kind of annoyed because I’m going to have to try and convince everybody of this, but it just felt right.”

Won’t judge til I hear but hopefully he’ll stop the falsetto already. Because it nearly killed me on X+Y. And my husband and I, we loved Coldplay 1 and 2. It was the soundtrack for our first two years of marriage. Encouraging though how Rolling Stone, after a preview of several tracks in studio, characterised their new sound:“refreshingly, bracingly different from Coldplay hits like "Clocks" and "Speed of Sound." Several tracks are considerably rougher around the edges, with distorted guitars and more prominent percussion.”